CONTRACTS: Keeper pens one-year deal

Carlisle United have today signed keeper Dan Hanford on a one year deal which keeps him at Brunton Park until the summer of 2015.

Hanford, 23, teamed up with coach Tony Caig one week ahead of pre-season training and has impressed the management team enough to earn a permanent deal.

The big keeper has spent time with Hereford, Rochdale and with Floriana in Malta, before starting his trial spell with United, and got 45 minutes in the behind closed doors friendly against a Southampton U21 side last week ahead of a final decision being made.

“It's obviously a position we've been looking at since we released Greg [Fleming],” manager Graham Kavanagh said. “We sat down as a staff during the close season to discuss what we would do going forward. That entailed bringing in another young keeper, with the right credentials, who we could look to develop.

“It was important they had the right mentality and they were ready to push Mark [Gillespie] for the number one shirt. We also wanted to make sure we had a keeper we could push on and try and get him to where Mark is in terms of development.

“Dan has been with us for two weeks now so he knows what to expect from us. He's looked good in training and he's starting to understand the way we're trying to work.”